In a semiconductor plant, semi-finished goods undergo a plurality of processes set for each product type to become finished products. A plurality of processing machines that handle the processes are connected via a transport path, and semi-finished goods use the transport path to move to the next processing machine. For efficient production, efficient layout design of the processing machines and the transport path is required, and a simulator that can visualize the use status of the transport path beforehand in a designing stage is used. By using this simulator, efficient arrangement of a manufacturing machine and the transport path becomes possible even in a complicated manufacturing process, thereby enabling to reduce a takt time and the manufacturing cost.
At present, a generally used simulator performs a simulation so as to simulate the movement of semi-finished goods along a time series, such as in which process the semi-finished goods are present or on which transport path the semi-finished goods are present. In the simulation performed along a time series, a considerable simulation time is required in a case of a large-scale and complicated manufacturing process such as those in a semiconductor plant, thereby imposing a burden at the time of examining the efficient layout design of the manufacturing machine and the transport path.
Accordingly, there has been required establishment of a simulator that can simulate the use status up to the final state without requiring a large-scale simulation model and a considerable simulation time.